Proverbs 17:4
An evildoer heeds wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
World Messianic Bible
In The King James Version
A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.
In Context
3The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the hearts.
5Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his Maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished.
Cross References
1 Samuel 22:7Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?
Proverbs 28:4Those who forsake the Torah praise the wicked; but those who keep the Torah contend with them.
Jeremiah 5:31The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?
1 John 4:5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 17:4
3 The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts. Note, 1. The hearts of the children of men are subject, not only to God's view, but to his judgment: As the fining-pot is for silver, both to prove it and to improve it so the Lord tries the hearts; he searches whether they are standard or no, and those that are he refines and makes purer, Jer. xvii. 10 . God tries the heart by affliction ( Ps. lxvi. 10, 11 ), and often chooses his people in that furnace ( Isa. xlviii. 10 )… Read the whole commentary →